ŁŚ Magazine before 5NDREAS: One Last Moment (FR)

My blog became the official media partner of the 5NDREAS Festival and my task is to fill in the remaining 5 weeks of wait with something interesting. And what could be more interesting than reading about the bands that are about to play on the stage at Feierwerk Kranhalle in Munich? Yeah? Let's have another one today.

The most mysterious act of the whole festival as One Last Moment hasn't releases anything yet! But it's not like they are debutants. Maxime Picquart and Laurent Boile met when Goodbye Meteor needed a drummer and now they've survived the meteor saying goodbye and are ready to show the world their new music. Or almost ready. Why Goodbye Meteor had to break up? How is being in a band like being in relationship? And why is French linguistic law bad for post-rock artists?

The French duo said that the post-rock society is the kindest in the music world and it certainly was true about them as well. I had real nice talk with the two. Let's go!

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ŁŚ: You’ve been invited to the 5NDREAS festival. I’m not surprised, Andreas always says he loves Goodbye Meteor’s music.

Laurent Boile: In fact, he asked us if Goodbye Meteor could play. Like one last gig. I told him that unfortunately it was impossible, we were definitely over. But also that Maxime and I had new music. 

Maxime Picquart: It was a year ago and it was the real beginning for our new project. 

LB: We had to find a name, we had to make pictures, set up social networks. We’d started some things before that, but it was just music. At first, we said to ourselves: “We have time, maybe we’ll release something in five years or so”. But because of him, we had to take everything more seriously. 

MP: It will be our first ever concert as One Last Moment. Exclusively at Andreas’ festival.

ŁŚ: And now you are the most mysterious artist on the lineup. Nobody knows what to expect! Are you still working on the material?

MP: We have around one hour of music already written and at the moment, we are arranging all the instruments.

LB: It’s quite different right now. In Goodbye Meteor, we made the songs all together, four people in a rehearsal room. Me and Maxime, we think that it’s now easier to control the project, to write the songs, and to have other guys on stage to make music with us eventually. So now we make music together, we record, we arrange, we mix, we produce, and when the final product is quite finished, we will invite other people to play with us.

ŁŚ: Are you planning to expand the band after you have the material?

LB: No, just for the shows. We have them chosen already, but we haven't practiced together yet. In a few weeks, we are going to have a rehearsal session for five days.

MP: In the future, we may consider expanding the band, but for now, it will be only the two of us. Like Oh Hiroshima, there are just two of them in the band [Jakob Hemström and Oskar Nilsson - author’s note], but it’s four or five people on stage playing live.

LB: Yeah, and we work more efficiently in this way too.

Oh Hiroshima, indeed only two people

ŁŚ: I've never been in a band and I've never created any music really. So it is always interesting to me, how the mechanisms between people in a band work while creating music. When there were four of you, it had to be more complicated, right? But also, a lot of ideas can evolve into more interesting results. How is it with you?

MP: Making music as One Last Moment was not easy at first, because I was not used to being the only melodic instrument in a band. I had always played in bands with at least one other guitarist and a bassist. So it took me a few weeks to understand how to build and structure a track without them.

LB: I think it's still fairly easy for us, since we have known each other for seven years now. I think we have a connection. It often  works in the same way: Maxime starts with a guitar riff and I immediately know what he wants. To be honest, we need only a meeting or two to create the structure of a song. We’ve rehearsed less than ten times and we’ve already got a full hour’s worth of music, because afterwards we work on the arrangements on our own.

MP: We have a real connection. We talk to each other and we know that we can say everything we want and that we will be treated in a respectful way. Laurent is a really understanding person and it's really easy to work with him.

LB: And I have a chance to play with the best guitarist in the world. For me, Maxime is the best.

ŁŚ: Maxime, is Laurent the best drummer in the world?

(both laugh)

LB: Of course, he's not the best guitarist in the world. I'm not the best drummer in the world, but for us, it really feels that way. It’s like when you are in a relationship, maybe the other person is not the most beautiful person in the world, objectively speaking, but for you, they're the best one.

ŁŚ: So you are saying that being in a band is like being in a relationship.

MP: Yeah, definitely. And I think that it's why Goodbye Meteor came to an end. We weren't made for each other. When we eventually split, we were quite sad about that.

LB: And it took some time for us to get back on our feet and start something new. But we play music that we love to play. It's the music we love to listen to. It’s the music we feel most comfortable when it comes to writing.

MP: That is our kind of music. We have both been musicians for many years and have played in various bands, making various styles of music. But post-rock is the genre that feels like we were made for. All the feelings, all the emotions. And it is the kind of music I listen to at home now. I discovered post-rock when we started Goodbye Meteor, only then. Before that, I had only seen God Is an Astronaut and Sigur Rós live, but it was ages ago, and I did not listen to this kind of music back then. But now, it is definitely the music I need to listen to and to make. 

Sigur Rós playing in Lyon in 2013, perhaps Maxime was somewhere there in the audience?

ŁŚ: So you came from outside of this post-rock world and now you consider it yours?

MP: That's it. Sometimes, and it’s not only about music, it’s also true in different contexts, sometimes you need some time to get to know yourself and understand who you really are as a person. It's what happened to me with post-rock. It was like a discovery. A revelation.

LB: I discovered post-rock without knowing it was post-rock. Sigur Rós, I Like Trains, bands like those. But I didn’t know there was a post-rock scene, that there were post-rock festivals. I just loved to listen to that kind of music. And when Maxim called, I didn't know him at all at that point, and said they needed a drummer for Goodbye Meteor, I said I didn’t have time. I had a lot of work back then. But still, I asked what kind of band they were starting. Was it a funk band? Was it a metal band? Reggae? If it was anything like that, I would say no. But it was post-rock, it sounded like I Like Trains. Amazing.

ŁŚ: Laurent, in Goodbye Meteor, you played only drums, right? But it will change now…?

LB: You will see at the festival! In fact, we are working now on some arrangements. It's not just one guitar, one drum set anymore. There are keyboards, there are other things. I will have an electronic pad to launch some sounds.

ŁŚ: For people who know and love Goodbye Meteor, is One Last Moment's music going to be very different, or is it going to be more like a continuation of this sound?

LB: No, it's a continuation. With some things new, like the keyboard, for example, but the guitar sound will be the same because you can’t change your sound. I think people who love Goodbye Meteor will love the new band as well.

ŁŚ: And when can we have a taste of your music? So far, there is only a short teaser video online. Nothing else. Do you have a timeline for the project? 

LB: When we started, there was no deadline. We wanted to take all the time we needed. And now there's Andreas. And Andreas changes things because we know we have to be ready to exist in November. We will try to release a single in the next few weeks.

MP: Just before the festival.

LB. We will TRY. 

ŁŚ: So for now, 5NDREAS is the only chance to see you and to listen to One Last Moment?

LB: Exactly. 

ŁŚ: You described Goodbye Meteor as “green post-rock”, music about the connection between human and nature, the balance between those. Do you have any kind of theme for One Last Moment as well already?

LB: It's red post-rock now (laughs).

MP: With One Last Moment, it is not exactly the same, but it is connected to nature as well. We will be talking about natural disasters on our first album. 

ŁŚ: So now I have to ask if “one last moment” is a commentary on the situation humankind is facing right now?

MP: It can be taken in multiple ways. And that's why we have chosen this name.

LB: Yes, it should feel nostalgic. It's the last moment before something, perhaps before starting something new?

MP: And the thing is that when we were trying to find the perfect name, we were thinking about it separately. And somehow we still found the same two words we wanted to use. “Last” and “moment”. Only when we met again we added the third missing word. “One”.

ŁŚ: That’s amazing!

LB: Yeah, and it also can be taken as an abbreviation of sorts. The L in Last is like the L in Laurent, the M in Moment is like the M in Maxime. 

ŁŚ: So now you need someone with a name starting with an O!

MP: An Oscar! (laughs)

One Oscar I can think of (photo by Syberia)

ŁŚ: At 5NDREAS, you will already play as a four-piece band, right?

MP: Four, yeah, four. Today we booked the two other musicians. One bassist and one guitarist. We would love to go on a tour after we release our debut. Hopefully with all the connections we made as Goodbye Meteor, it won’t be that difficult. 

ŁŚ: I think that when you get into the post-rock world, you find that it's not that big. So you actually know everyone after a second. A very close community of people.

LB: And very, very nice people too. I went to dunk!festival four or five times, but I have never seen a moment of tension. It's not that mentality. I went to Pelagic Fest two years ago and it was the same thing. And that’s also why we prefer to play in Belgium and Germany. In France it’s more difficult, because in France people don’t really listen to post-rock. Of course, there are bands, and there are people who listen to it, but when it’s instrumental, it can sometimes be a bit of a struggle… For example, I saw Explosions in the Sky in Belgium two years ago and I saw them in Paris as well a few days later. In Belgium, they played two gigs a few days apart on a big stage, and in Paris… I’m not sure it was a full house.

In France, it can be complicated if there are no lyrics in music. Lyrics are very important. Because in France in radio stations, there are quotas for Chanson Francaise. I don’t know the precise number [it's a minimum of 40% of songs with lyrics in French for a standard radio station - author’s note]. And when I contacted some small radio stations in France, showing them Goodbye Meteor’s music, they said: “Oh, good, but it's too long. Can you make a radio edit?”. Well, of course it’s long. For a radio, over 3 minutes is very long. But in post-rock 3 minutes is just the intro. In other countries, like the US, Australia or China, there are some radio stations that broadcast us. They never say it's too long. In France, it's quite difficult.

MP: Yeah, that’s why sometimes we think we need to find the right place to meet our audience 

LB: Another example: we played at a festival close to where we live once. And it's a festival I have known for years. I’d played there with other bands playing reggae and pop, because I know the guy who organizes it. When it was the start of Goodbye Meteor, I told him: “I have a new band. It's a very good project. I'm sure it will be very good for this festival.” He agreed, but when he finally listened to our music, just before the event, he sent me a message: “There are no lyrics, there is no singer, it's instrumental! I'm not sure the people will understand.” And on stage, before we started the gig, this guy came on the stage, took the microphone and said, “I present to you Goodbye Meteor. It's a really nice band. There are no lyrics, but it's still a nice band”.

ŁŚ: I’m pretty sure Andreas won’t say anything like that in November!🦢

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One Last Moment will perform at the 5NDREAS Festival on Friday 27.11.

Save your ticket now (limited availability): https://rausgegangen.de/events/5ndreas-postrock-festival-0/

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ŁŚ Magazine before 5NDREAS: Civil Service (UK)

On the last weekend of November in the city of Munich, a special event will take place. Andreas, very well known within the post-rock community persona, will hold his birthday party, and it will be a special two days-long, 12 bands-rich indoor music festival 5NDREAS. My blog became its official media partner and my task is to fill in the remaining 6 weeks of wait with something interesting. And what could be more interesting than reading about the bands that are about to play on the stage at Feierwerk Kranhalle in Munich? Yeah? Let's start.

They released their third (or second as they, against the whole world, claim) album Dark /// last autumn and almost exactly one year later, Civil Service will present it to the (mainland) European fans for the first time in Munich. Why is it so different than /// Light? How were they inspired by both Hope of the States, Future of the Left and Gustavo Santaolalla? And what happens if people don't stand for what they believe in?

The British lads turned to be extremely nice guys with tons of things to say (also in Polish weirdly!) and it was an absolute pleasure to start this project in their company. Let's go!

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ŁŚ: Civil service means the organization which runs the administration of a state as it is defined by dictionaries, but it also evokes some kind of mission towards people, towards other citizens. Does your name mean that you, as a band, feel some kind of responsibility towards listeners, towards other people with your music? If so, what is this mission?

Francis Atkinson: Yeah, so it's a name where we all hated every other name. Our old bassist, James [Wilkes - author’s note] had a list of names. We went through a few, I think Glimmer for a bit before we released anything. Civil Service is one that we all kind of liked. I think it was a reference kind of to the song I Am Civil Service by the UK punk band Future of the Left. But yeah, it's come to us to mean having some sort of responsibility. Being the servants of our fans, the servants of the public, the servants of others. We try and help other bands, try and help other people, we try and help charities and stuff. It was an accident, but the name has come to mean something about who we are. We all kind of still think it's a bit rubbish, but we're 10 years in now, so...

ŁŚ: It reminds me of Public Service Broadcasting as well.

FA: They're great, I was at their big show in London two days ago. They did The Race for Space. It was incredible.

AC: We almost played a show with them. The promoter was in some ways eager because they were looking for an act, but asked if we could be more acoustic poetic instead of post-rock. And we were like: that's the weirdest thing we've ever been asked.

ŁŚ: It would look weird on a poster too. 

AC: You could do one of those crossword style, like they just take the Civil from us and the Public and Broadcasting from them.

How the poster could look like (probably not) - author's note

ŁŚ: Your first album was called Life /// Death. The previous one was called /// Light and now you released the Dark /// album, I'm seeing that you are very much inspired by juxtaposing some very different things together.

FA: Yeah, I think as a post rock band we can be a bit all over the place. And sometimes we write some songs that are very much kind of dark, more sort of like the GY!BE side of things. And then sometimes we write some songs that are really quite bouncy, lots of synthesizers, more sort of, I don't know, Maybeshewill, perhaps. We like to live within the contradiction.

AC: [While recording Life /// Death - author’s note] We've got a song about the start of life. Got a song about death and then James kind of threw some song titles around and we instantly went: well, two of them really fit because one of them's about your work life in Monozukuri and then another one was Lost in This Forest, a thick and confusing song about adolescence. And we realized that this album kind of just speaks to the big stages of your life, so why don't we make that kind of the theme of the record? And then it kind of coincided, positively and negatively, that I had my first son just as we were releasing the album, which kind of fit the life section. And then Fran and I had some lost family as we were recording it as well. So it kind of felt like it all came together at the right time. It meant something, still means something.

When we started to write new stuff or whilst we were in the process of it, we had all these kinds of big post-rock themes that were a bit disparate. And then when we started drilling down into it, we decided we could just make an album that's about the positive side of what we're doing and then one that's the darker side of it. They're supposed to be like two parts of the same story, those two records. And if you listen to them together or if you listen to them separately, you're still getting kind of the overall message that there's good bits and bad bits and you've got to find the balance to keep yourself sane and happy and pushing forward.

ŁŚ: But you agree that this is not only a title, right?

FA: Yeah, it's quite literal. It tells you what it should sound like: /// Light is lighter, Dark /// is darker. But they were all written in similar time, maybe across two years.

AC: And recorded by the same person in the same room. Same musicians, same instruments, like nothing really changed between recording /// Light and Dark ///. Originally we wanted to record them at the same time together, but we found out that would be very expensive. I think we made the right decision.

After /// Light, we've played a few more shows, but we haven't really had a breakout moment. And then it just felt like a couple of the songs people have really taken to and a couple of guests really made the songs work. We remain just immensely grateful to anyone who's pitched in for anything, but it felt particularly gratifying when Luke [Daly - author’s note] from Overhead the Albatross joined us to open Dark ///. People were listening to our record going: “so there is a new Overhead the Albatross album out?” And Luke told us afterwards that that's the first time he's ever sung with anyone else other than OtA for 15 years. And he'd never done it live before ArcTanGent a couple of weeks ago. That's the first time he'd ever sung with another band, which is hugely honouring. 

ŁŚ: I would say that Dark ///, except for the obvious fact that this is sort of darker in tone, it is also kind of maybe more complex musically. Do you have also this feeling?I feel it especially in my favourite track here, Black Giraffes. It also involves some strings and you don't play violins, do you?

AC: When it comes to Black Giraffes, I think you're going to get a kick out of this more than most people. The origin of the song is that I was playing around with a riff and then I was kind of musing on The Last of Us main theme tune by Gustavo Santaolalla. And as I was playing it, I was like, this pattern's really similar to something but I couldn't work out what it was. And then I turned to James, and I went, is this Hope of the States?

It's the same, it's the same pattern. It's the same notes. It's just like different ascending and descending parts. The song was always going to be about Ukraine. We'd just been over there, all five of the original recording members, in 2019. So before /// Light had been written, and we started working up this new song as the invasion was happening. So we wanted to find themes that would connect and obviously The Last of Us being kind of post-apocalyptic felt perfect. The Black Amnesias [a track from the debut album by Hope of the States - author’s note] for me has always felt like a post-apocalyptic opening to a record so it kind of felt like two things hand in glove.

And then because I loved Mike Siddel's violin playing on that so much, I was like: “There's got to be some strings at some point on it” and we tried to get him and almost did.

ŁŚ: [being a Hope of the States fanboy] My God, that would be so perfect.

AC: But I said: you know what, we can't just let the dream die there. So I just approached some people that were offering online services and they ended up recording a bit like a string quartet on Black Giraffes, on Every Beam of Light is an Invitation to Death, and a little bit on An Infant Wave in a Savage Ocean as well. Honestly, if we had more time before we put the record out, we probably would have got them to do maybe every song, because I think they did such a great job and it's something that I think we know really adds to the sound.

FA: On the complexity front, I think Thom takes the credit here. We tend to write, me and Alex will write stuff, and it tends to be very boring. And then Thom will shout at us that we have to do something interesting rhythmically. And I think he brings a lot of that. Because post-rock can often just be playing the same thing, but a bit louder.

Thom Hamper: And with Dark ///, I think the way we wrote the songs, it just created more space for more instruments, which with /// Light, there's already a lot of that taken up by synths. And I think we thought, well, as much as we love our synth, let's see if there's something else that we can fit that moment better with. And I suspect that's how a lot of it came about as well.

AC: I think doing the process slightly differently helped redefine the songs. The synths really come to the fore in /// Light so much because it is supposed to feel like an ethereal record with rising, soaring moments. And Dark /// was always supposed to have moments of pause, of making you listen for something that's maybe not there and then suddenly you hit with something that you're not expecting.

TH: Within /// Light, there's not a lot of space. And then in recording that, we could hear a lot of the implied melody of bits that we maybe could have done with a bit more time. So then when it came to Dark ///, I think we recognized where those spaces were and were like: well, if we can hear it, let's fill it. I think that came about quite organically and unconsciously, really.

FA: Yeah, we learned a lot recording. When we worked with Dave [Sanderson, on /// Light - author’s note], it was the first time we had been produced and you know he was giving feedback and he was giving ideas and he was pushing and prodding us.

AC: We approached Dave because he'd done like four of 65daysofstatic's best records. So if he turned 65daysofstatic into like the band they went on to be then he's going to be able to take us to a level that we couldn't do ourselves.

And I still have moments where I'll hear something that Dave's done, either for 65daysofstatic or for us or some of the other projects he's worked on and you just hear little bits that are like Dave, that's just him. And whenever I have those moments when listening to 65daysofstatic I say: holy hell, that sounds like us! But it doesn't sound like us. We sound like them, but everything sounds like Dave.

ŁŚ: Coming back to Black Giraffes, you already said it is about the Russian invasion on Ukraine. There are some voice samples with a girl speaking Ukrainian.

AC: So we sponsor a Ukrainian humanitarian aid worker called Glynn. He's a chap from Hull in the UK, which is a very desolate, rundown part of the country. I'm sure they won't mind me saying. And he retired after working his entire life and decided to spend the last four or five years going over to Ukraine, driving ambulances and delivering food and aid and power banks and whatever they need.

I asked him to take his phone and just ask the question: why did you stay in Ukraine? Why haven't you left? Why do you continue to fight for your country? And we got, I think it's about 12 or 13 samples from people kind of all over the eastern side of Ukraine. And they're all the quotes already harrowing and kind of meaningful. So for our live shows, we project the lyrics to the song, but we project them in English as they're being spoken in Ukrainian. 

ŁŚ: So I guess it brings us to the remixes album that is being released this November. Darker is made in support of Ukrainian humanitarian aid. You’ve already answered why you decided to do it this way, but tell me why now? It’s almost five years since the beginning of full scale invasion.

FA: Before we weren't really popular, it wouldn’t have had any impact, maybe made any sales. It's also taken us time to gather people to work with us. 

AC: Like specifically on the timing, I think I really wanted to release this now to kind of make that point that we appreciate loads of other causes that are going on in the world right now, but it seems even madder to me now than it did five years ago that there is still a conflict right on our doorstep. And it's crazy that like we're doing it to prove a point that you can't let these things just slip to the back of your mind. Because it's not okay that it's still a problem. Ultimately, if people aren't shouting about it, about the things they believe in, then people just get used to it and it becomes the norm.

FA: There can be an assumption that Ukraine are just holding them to a standstill and that's fine and it can just carry on, but in the meantime, people in Ukraine are suffering and it could all collapse in a month if people stop sending aid, if governments stop supporting. So we're doing our little bit. I don't think there's ever a wrong time to support something you believe in.

ŁS: I'm very glad that this is your view on this matter, because I understand that for a person in Great Britain this actually can be a distant problem, while for me, you know, I could get into a car and in three hours I would be in Ukraine.

TH: We’re still all Europeans, whether people in this country think so or not.

FA: Yeah, we're very proud Europeans.

AC: The ultimate dream when writing that song was to someday perform it in Ukraine. And like it seems completely impossible right now, but hopefully things change.

At this point, I'd love to give a shout out to some of the people on Darker because obviously they have given so generously their time and their talent, sometimes not necessarily knowing us as people

Eugenie hosts Lviv Wave Radio and she's going to be contributing something to the record, which again, for someone who's living the experience of being in Ukraine right now, trying to keep spirits up, trying to kind of battle against propaganda from other sides, trying to keep that message strong. It's amazing that she's contributing to something and playing the songs over there as well, which is amazing.

And Robin Southby from Maybeshewill, I mean, Maybeshewill are far too big a band to have anything to do with us. He messaged us on the internet and he followed us rather than us following him, which was weird. And then I messaged him: you know, our band loves your band. If you're ever near any of our shows, you’re invited. I thought that he'd never pick us up on that, but he came to the next show that we played.

That's been the real lesson for Darker as a project: if you don't ask, you're definitely getting nothing. Whereas if you ask, the worst, honestly, the worst thing that happens is you never hear anything. I won't name the band because, you know, who knows if they'd want to talk about it or not. But we had a band who we invited to be part of the project who said, we just try, you know, our absolute best not to be involved in any kind of political causes.

ŁŚ: Was that Ed Sheeran?

(all laugh)

AC: Like with everything else, we know what the problem is politically motivated by a smaller group than an entire nation. We had the pleasure of playing with a couple of Russian bands over in China and they were honestly so lovely and they were as devastated as everyone else because they'd been doing European tours and then suddenly it's all gone.

FA: The Iron Curtain comes down again.

AC: [On Darker - author’s note] there's a few bands that I think we've not even kind of mentioned publicly who are going to be on the record, but if you know who we are, then I suppose they become pretty easy to guess.

ŁŚ: In November, you will play in Munich at 5NDREAS festival. What can the audience expect from your show at the festival? Songs from Dark /// or some older ones?

FA: It's going to be a nice mixture. And probably something new. We're still writing it. We're going to go and rehearse it after this interview. We may have a fight. It may get scrapped. It may be our new favorite song. We'll let you know, but we hope to play a new song.

AC: So we asked Andreas to pick the set list. It's your birthday, tell us what you want to play. He's seen us before, he's always commented, oh, I wish you'd played this song or I wish you'd played that song. So we wanted to give him the chance. But I think it's also probably fair to say that we're planning to play the two songs that we've debuted on his channel. So Black Giraffes and Their Lines of Communication, Severed. 

FA: We're not playing Turn Out the /// Light because Andreas doesn't like the screaming.

(That's not true! I love Turn Out the /// Light! - Andreas' note)

AC: We'll keep it within the post-rock realms for sure. 🦢

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Civil Service will perform at the 5NDREAS Festival on Saturday 28.11.

Save your ticket now (limited availability): https://rausgegangen.de/events/5ndreas-postrock-festival-0/

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ŁŚ Magazine: Kielichy PL

Dopiero co wydali EP-kę i już wydali debiutancką płytę długogrającą zatytułowaną Sawant. Dopiero co wydali płytę, a już tworzą następną. Wrocławskie Kielichy porzuciły bezpieczne wody neofolku i ruszyły na niezbadane morza. Gdzie dopłyną? Czy w ogóle wiedzą? Na dwa tygodnie przed festiwalowym debiutem na katowickim OFFie, udało mi się porozmawiać z zespołem w Krakowie. Był ciepły, letni wieczór, siedzieliśmy nad Wisłą i rozmawialiśmy o tym, co jest w ich muzyce gotyckiego, co to za sawant i co będzie dla nich największym wyzwaniem przed pokazaniem się szerokiej publiczności na OFFie.

Pośrodku morza

ŁŚ: W styczniu tego roku wyszła wasza EP-ka Punkty płonące, na której znalazł się utwór Morze czarne z tekstem: “Pozwólcie nam płynąć na statkach utkanych ze snów, szukać nowych mórz” i “musimy wreszcie coś zniszczyć, aby móc stworzyć nowe miejsca”. A już w czerwcu wydajecie swoją pierwszą płytę długogrającą, Sawant. Czy ta płyta to już jest to miejsce, do którego do płynęliście, czy raczej wciąż skupiacie się na eksploracji starych terenów? 

Adrian Szczecina: Ten tekst nie był pisany z zamysłem tworzenia narracji o naszej twórczości. Szczerze mówiąc to bardziej chciałem po prostu wyeksponować bardziej życiowy temat. Też fun fact jest taki, że ta piosenka została stworzona już po napisaniu Sawanta. A więc to nie jest tak, że ta płyta to już ma nas zdefiniować na najbliższych kilka wydawnictw. Cały czas sobie pozwalamy na eksplorację, szukanie tych nowych miejsc.

ŁŚ: Czyli tak jak w tej piosence, nie macie tego portu, do którego płyniecie?

Aleks Ciekalski: Nie, żadnej konkluzji nie ma i chyba się z tym pogodziliśmy. Nasza twórczość to kolejny przykład na to, że podróż jest ważniejsza niż cel.

ŁŚ: Ale powiedziałeś, że ta płyta teraz jest trochę inna muzycznie.

AC: Tak, jasne, odjechaliśmy na tej płycie, a na nowym wydawnictwie, nad którym teraz pracujemy, odjeżdżamy w jeszcze inne miejsca. Ale nie jest to coś, do czego dążymy za wszelką cenę: zmieniać się tylko żeby się zmieniać. To jest bardziej naturalna ewolucja. Żyjemy i doświadczamy nowych rzeczy, słuchamy nowych nowej muzyki, poznajemy nowych ludzi i to nas skłania, żeby też muzycznie iść gdzie indziej jako zespół i jako kolektyw.

AS: Nasze gusta się zmieniają i zmieniają się też nasze możliwości. Mamy teraz więcej instrumentów. Nie, nie boimy się eksplorować. U nas to mnie też kręci, że ten element niszczenia starej stylistyki wszystkim nam się podoba. Podejrzewam, że każdy z nas czerpie satysfakcję z tego, że musieliśmy wyjść z neofolku i że teraz jesteśmy już na pełnym morzu.

Mikołaj Uchman: Ten materiał też nie powstawał linearnie, na przykład część utworów, które jest na tej płycie powstała nawet jeszcze przed wydaniem pierwszej EP-ki. 

AC: Na przykład Myśliwy, który został kompletnie przearanżowany. W pierwszej wersji był bardzo, ale to bardzo neofolkową piosenką: wszystkie instrumenty i rytmika były bardzo neofolkowe. Przearanżowaliśmy go na potrzeby tej naszej nowej odsłony, że tak powiem, nowego imidżu.

MU: Został tylko tekst i akordy w refrenie.

ŁŚ: Adrian, powiedziałeś, że tekst Morza czarnego nie odnosi się do waszej twórczości, ale jak tak was słucham, to można pomyśleć, że jednak się trochę odnośni.

AS: Pisząc ten tekst nie starałem się stworzyć narracji, która miałaby opowiadać słuchaczowi, co się stanie z zespołem, czego może spodziewać. Patrząc z perspektywy czasu może to się faktycznie wpisało, ale nie taka była intencja.

ŁŚ: No widzicie, ja się nabrałem, ja automatycznie odczytałem to jako jako taki właśnie manifest. Dokądś jednak zmierzacie. Możecie powiedzieć tak w skrócie, w jaką stronę? Kontrolujecie to w jakiś sposób, czy po prostu idziecie na żywioł?

AS: Jest jakaś estetyka, którą mamy w głowie. W pewien sposób chcieliśmy troszeczkę zrezygnować z tego crescendującego post-rocka na rzecz bardziej prymitywnego no wave'u, ale nie udało się tak w pełni.

MU: Są takie elementy, ale zostały okraszone jakimiś jeszcze wpływami. No wave jest taki bardzo prymitywny, bardzo mocno oparty na rytmie, na dysonansach.

AC: I przez to podobny jest do neofolków w tej swojej formule. Bardzo łatwo się przez to wyczerpuje. Tak na EP-kę, albo dwie jak sądzę. Dla nas stałoby się to mega szybko monotematyczne i nudne. Więc mimo takiego pierwotnego założenia prędko z tego zrezygnowaliśmy i zrozumieliśmy, że po prostu potrzebujemy iść z naszym naturalnym flow. I potem znowu pojawiały się kompozycje, które miały jakieś bardziej rozciągniętą strukturę, połamane metrum, coś co w ogóle nie przypominało no wave’u. Więc chyba konkluzja jest taka, że jest to totalnie poza naszą kontrolą i to dobrze.

AS: Na Sawancie, w ostatnim utworze, w Schodach wężowych, jest już taki klimat trochę bliskowschodnich skal. To zapowiada mam wrażenie nasze kolejne wydawnictwo, które jednak nie wiemy jeszcze, kiedy się ukaże. 

AC: Więc ten element absurdyzmu, że wszystko jest poza kontrolą, a mimo to jest ok, jest w nas żywy.

AS: Muzyka, którą robimy musi się nam podobać. Chyba taka jest konkluzja.

Kielichy na początku 2026

ŁŚ: Dopiero wydaliście nową płytę i już planujecie następną?

AS: No tak, naturalnie się to wszystko dzieje. Też ten proces produkcyjny ostatniej płyty był mocno rozciągnięty. Nagraliśmy materiał w kwietniu zeszłego roku ale cały proces dogrywek, miksu, masteringu zakończył się dopiero zimą.

ŁŚ: Dobra, a to jeszcze wrócę do tego Morza czarnego, bo nie ukrywam, że ten utwór zrobił na mnie wrażenie. Na pierwszej EP-ce mieliście Bałtyk, na drugiej Morze czarne i jak sobie spojrzałem na kawałki na nowym albumie, to aż się zdziwiłem, że nie ma żadnego morza wśród tytułów. Co jest takiego w tym morzu, że jest dla ciebie, Adrian, tak inspirującym tematem?

AS: Od dzieciaka byłem strasznie zajarany morzem i żeglowaniem ogólnie. To trochę absurdalne, bo jestem z gór, ale chociaż teraz mieszkam przy jeziorze. Jeśli chodzi o Bałtyk to mam wrażenie, że ten utwór łapał dla mnie taki jakiś ambians końca wakacji nad Bałtykiem. Atmosferę późnego sierpnia. Z kolei Morze czarne to nasze wspólne wspomnienie. Byliśmy dwa lata temu na takim fajnym road tripie po Bałkanach i spędziliśmy cudowny wieczór nad Morzem Czarnym, bardzo taki oczyszczający. A na takiej warstwie symbolicznej, morze kojarzy mi się zawsze z taką bardzo rozległą warstwą nieświadomą i te teksty, które piszę też bardzo często właśnie działają bardziej na na zasadzie skojarzeń, trochę przypominają sny. Słynne słowo oniryzm się często pojawia, gdy ktoś określa naszą muzykę. Morze jest więc dla mnie symbolem również tego, z czego te teksty wyrastają.

ŁŚ: No i “morze czarne” to nawet nie musi być nazwa tego morza, po prostu jego wygląd.

AC: To raczej nie jest toponim. 

MU: To znaczy, mieliśmy taką debatę, czy to jest odpowiedni tytuł, ale stwierdziliśmy, że to jest faktycznie też określenie jakie może dotyczyć morza, zwłaszcza, że Adrian rysuje w tym kawałku taki dość mroczny pejzaż.

Wszyscy jesteśmy sawantami

ŁŚ: Wydaliście swoją pierwszą płytę długogrającą i zatytułowaliście ją Sawant. Przyznaję, musiałem sobie wygooglować, ale teraz wiem, że to albo określenie człowieka, który jest wyjątkowo uzdolniony, albo może to być nazwa schorzenia. W zasadzie dokładnie tej odmiany autyzmu, którą najczęściej przedstawia się w  filmach, jak na przykład w Rain Manie. Kto dla was jest tym sawantem? Skąd w ogóle taki tytuł? 

AS: Wiesz co, ja myślę, że poniekąd wszyscy jesteśmy sawantami, jakkolwiek to nie brzmi. Dla mnie przynajmniej ten sawant to trochę opowieść też o nas, takie nasze nowe imię na tę chwilę. Bo wszyscy mamy czasem jakieś problemy w życiu, czasem sobie z czymś nie radzimy. Ale muzyka jest tym miejscem, gdzie ta nasza wrażliwość, która często sprawia nam dużo problemów, dostaje swój głos. 

ŁŚ: Jest w waszej twórczości też coś, co bardzo rzuca mi się w oczy: użycie symboliki religijnej. Mam nawet listę: w waszych kawałkach jest i piekło, bramy piekielne, i niebo, i anioł, chociaż diabła chyba nie, ale mogłem przeoczyć. Ze dwa razy pojawia się człowiek, który wisi na drzewie, jest korona cierniowa, liczba 7. A i same kielichy to też przecież potężny symbol religijny.

Zastanawiam się, czy to jest celowe zagranie, bo dodaje to odpowiedniego klimatu i pewnej gotyckiej atmosfery, a może to bardziej efekt tego, że w naszej kulturze po prostu tak często pojawiają się takie referencje?

AS: Nigdy nie było tak, żebym celowo w tych tekstach sięgał po symbole religijne, żeby jakiś klimat wprowadzić. Bardziej, wydaje mi się, że to ze względu na naszą kulturę i to jak bardzo emocjonalnie i symbolicznie są one nacechowane, że można odczytywać je na różny sposób. Bardzo mi się to podoba. Tak trochę po jungowsku do tego podchodzę, że często są to fajne symbole dla określenia różnych przemian, które w nas zachodzą. Plus do tego mam wrażenie, że do Sawanta pasuje ta nomenklatura religijna ze względu na to, że nasza muzyka jest muzyką rytualną. Przynajmniej tak jak my to odczuwamy, jak my to odgrywamy. Muzyka, która prowadzi do jakiejś przemiany.

Często bazujemy nasze utwory na jednej zmianie dźwięku, którą budujemy przez długi czas, co sprzyja wpadaniu w pewnego rodzaju trans. Mam wrażenie, że użycie języka religijnego jeszcze to podkreśla. 

MU: Mi się nasza muzyka kojarzy z doświadczeniem religijnym. Raczej stąd ta stylistyka tekstów wynika niż z jakichś gotyckich inspiracji, które, nie zrozum mnie źle, również mamy. Ale nie wiem, czy byś określił naszą muzykę jako związaną z, powiedzmy, subkulturą gotycką.

Bartosz Grygielski: Wszyscy czerpiemy z takiego mistycyzmu właśnie, wydaje mi się, bardziej na zasadzie radzenie sobie z tą naszą wrażliwością. Czerpiemy z symboliki, która pozwala to wszystko jakoś przepracowywać.

AC: No i myślę, że istnieje też taka paralela liryczna pomiędzy tym sawantem i nomenklaturą religijną. Bo to jest takie opozycyjne: sawant a więc ta piękna część, tak samo jak mamy to w sferze sacrum, jest przeciwstawiona tym pewnym zwyrodnieniem. Czymś grzesznym, czymś po prostu ludzkim. Myślę, że idzie to ze sobą w parze.

Sawant ozdobiony jest przejmującymi grafikami Darii Izworskiej    

ŁŚ: Na singiel z nowej płyty wybraliście Puste niebo i zastanawiam się, czy utwór z tak wiele mówiącym tytułem to jest jakiś wasz manifest światopoglądowy?

AS: Wiesz co, trochę tak. Wydaje mi się, że taki mocny fundamentalizm religijny kreuje mocną dychotomię: albo coś jest białe, albo coś jest czarne, nie ma nic pomiędzy. I ta piosenka jest trochę o tym, że albo jesteś na tym szczycie i wyżej jest tylko niebo, albo są te najniższe doliny. Druga część tekstu opowiada o tym, jak można gdzieś uciec w taką fantazję, że wszystko jest cudowne, piękne. Ale ostatecznie okazuje się, że to jednak tylko jakiś sen, jakieś odklejnie od rzeczywistości. Więc trochę tak, ale nie powiedziałbym, że to jest manifest. Wiesz, zadziałała tu taka organika i tekst po prostu powstał gdzieś przy okazji komponowania utworu.

ŁŚ: Powiedziałeś wcześniej o Jungu, o warstwie podświadomości. Czy to znaczy, że w taki sposób piszesz teksty? Poprzez strumień świadomości?

AS: Zdarza mi się często, że mam jakieś skojarzenie, które wydaje mi się bardzo trafne i fajnie pasujące do utworu i wokół tego powstaje reszta. Najczęściej jednak pierwsza powstaje warstwa melodyjna, ja łapię jej klimat i napływają skojarzenia.

Poniżej stu decybeli nie schodzimy. 

ŁŚ: Skoro mamy omówioną warstwę tekstową to muszę spytać jeszcze o gatunek. Czy wy w ogóle siebie widzicie, jakkolwiek w takim szeroko pojętym post-rocku? Bo na albumie są fragmenty bardziej gitarowe, bardziej noisowe, ale czy to jest w ogóle jest coś, co was inspiruje? 

AC: Poniekąd na pewno. Bo skoro rozszerzasz definicję tego gatunku tak, że zaliczacz do niego i nas, to możemy powiedzieć, że są wśród nich też takie zespoły jak Swans czy Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Michał Warzecha: Z post-rockiem jest taki problem, że ten termin oznacza teraz pewną niszę. Jak słyszę “post-rock” to od razu widzę zespoły typu Explosions in the Sky. Kiedyś było to szersze pojęcie, teraz kojarzy mi się tylko z jego trzecią falą. Mimo tego, że z założenie post-rock oznaczał wyjście poza klasyczną rockową formułę, a więc naprawdę ciekawa sprawa. Zespoły typu Slint, Talk Talk, jeszcze pewnie Mogwai, to były bardzo ciekawe rzeczy, a potem mam wrażenie, że… jak coś po, powiedzmy, 2010 roku, jest otagowane jako post-rock to ja już wiem czego się spodziewać.

Więc teraz ten post-rock znaczy… No właściwie kopiowanie Tides From Nebula. Trochę ubolewam, że ten gatunek zamknął się na eksperymenty.

AC: To tak jak to jest teraz z post-punkiem. Nazwa tego gatunku zmieniła znaczenie. Kiedy zespół mówi, że gra post-punk to nic to dla mnie nie znaczy.

ŁŚ: Za trzy tygodnie gracie na OFF Festivalu. Graliście kiedyś na imprezie o takiej skali?

MU: Chyba jedyne festiwale, jeśli można tak to nazwać, na którym do tej pory graliśmy to była Muzyczna Jesień i wrOFF (showcase), ale to nie to samo. To były weekendowe albo jednodniowe sprawy, ograniczone z reguły do jednego klubu. Więc można powiedzieć, że to będzie nasz festiwalowy debiut.

ŁŚ: Jak do tego w ogóle doszło? 

MU: Napisali do nas. (śmiech) Nigdzie się nie zgłaszaliśmy, ani nic.

ŁŚ: To czego się w ogóle spodziewacie po OFFie?

MU: Na pewno cieszy nas slot czasowy, który dostaliśmy, bo mimo że gramy na najmniejszej scenie, to jednak o dwudziestej drugiej między Black Country, New Road a Flaming Lips, więc wiesz… super!

AC: Tak, ale forma i czas będą dla nas wyzwaniem. Będziemy mieli 30-35 minut na sam set. A takim naszym głównym założeniem, kiedy gramy koncert jest to, że my sobie lubimy te formy rozciągnąć i bawić się tymi piosenkami i dać sobie czas. Tu musimy to bardzo skondensować i skupić się na tym, żeby mimo wszystko trafić w sedno. Nie chcę powiedzieć, że zrobimy medley, bo to, to nie. 

AS: Pewnie zagramy dwa-trzy utwory w te 35 minut, żeby one po prostu miały czas, żeby wybrzmieć, żeby to jakoś zaczęło grzać.

AC: To jest największe dla nas teraz wyzwanie. 

ŁŚ: Będziecie pewnie zagłuszani przez Flaming Lips, którzy będą się soundcheckować tuż obok. 

MU: Ale my gramy raczej głośno! (śmiech)

AC: Poniżej stu decybeli nie schodzimy. (śmiech) 

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Kielichy zagrają na OFF Festivalu 7 sierpnia o 22:35.

Okładka wywiadu zawiera zdjęcie zespołu zrobione przez Darię Izworską.

Kielichy - SAWANT (2026)

Kielichy - Punkty płonące (2026)

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ŁŚ Magazine: Kielichy EN

They'd just released an EP and already released their debut full-length album, Sawant. They've just released the album, and they're already working on another one. Wrocławskie Kielichy have abandoned the safe waters of neofolk and set off for uncharted seas. Where will they end up? Do they even know? Two weeks before their festival debut at the OFF Festival in Katowice, I managed to talk to the band in Kraków. It was a warm summer evening when we sat by the Vistula River and talked about what's Gothic about their music, what a savant is, and what will be their biggest challenge before presenting themselves to the general public at OFF.

In the Middle of the Sea

ŁŚ: In January of this year, your EP Punkty płonące ("Burning Points") was released, featuring the song Morze czarne ("Black Sea"), with the lyrics: "Let us sail on ships woven from dreams and search for new seas" and "we must finally destroy something to create some new places." And in June, you released your first full-length album, Sawant ("Savant"). Is this album the destination you've been sailing to, or are you still focusing on exploring the old places?

Adrian Szczecina: This text wasn't written with the intention of creating a narrative about our work. Honestly, I simply wanted to highlight some real-life topics. It's also a fun fact that this song was written after we wrote Sawant. So it's not like this album is going to define us for the next few releases. We're constantly allowing ourselves to explore, to find these new places.

ŁŚ: So, like in that song, you don't have a specific port of call?

Aleks Ciekalski: No, there's no conclusions, and I think we've come to terms with that. Our work is another example of how a journey is more important than its destination.

ŁŚ: But you said this album is a bit different musically.

AC: Yes, of course, we've gone a bit further on this album, and on the new release we're working on now, we're going to even different places. But it's not something we strive for at all costs: to change just for the sake of changing. It's more of a natural evolution. We live and experience new things, we listen to new music, we meet new people, and that's what pushes us to go somewhere else musically as a band and as a collective.

AS: Our tastes are changing, and so are our capabilities: we have more instruments now. No, we're not afraid to explore. What I'm also excited about is that we all like this element of destroying the old style. I suspect each of us derives satisfaction from having had to leave neofolk and that we're now on the high seas.

Mikołaj Uchman: This material wasn't created linearly either; for example, some of the songs on this album were written even before the release of the first EP.

AC: For example, Myśliwy ("Hunter"), which was completely rearranged. In the first version, it was a very, very neofolk song: all the instruments and rhythms were very neofolk. We rearranged it for this new version of ours, a new image, so to speak.

MU: Only the lyrics and chords in the chorus remained.

ŁŚ: Adrian, you said that the lyrics of Morze Czarne don't refer to your work, but listening to you now, I think they might.

AS: When writing this, I wasn't trying to create a narrative that would tell the listener what would happen to the band, what they could expect. Looking back, maybe it did, but that wasn't the intention.

ŁŚ: See, I was fooled; I automatically read it as a manifesto. You're heading somewhere, though. Can you briefly say where? Do you control it in any way, or do you just go with the flow?

AS: There's a certain aesthetic we have in mind. In a way, we wanted to abandon this crescendoing post-rock in favor of more primitive no wave, but it didn't quite work out.

MU: There are elements like that, but they've been embellished with other influences. No wave is very primitive, very rhythm-based, very dissonant.

AC: And that's why it's similar to neofolk in its formula. It gets exhausted very easily. It's good for an EP or two, I think. For us, it would quickly become monotonous and boring. So, despite that initial intention, we quickly abandoned it and realized that we simply needed to follow our natural flow. And then compositions appeared again that had a more extended structure, a broken meter, something that didn't resemble no wave at all. So I guess the conclusion is that it's completely out of our control, and that it's a good thing.

AS: On Sawant, in the last track, Schody wężowe ("Snake stairs"), there's already a slightly Middle Eastern feel to it. I think this foreshadows our next release, which, however, we don't know when will be released yet.

AC: So this element of absurdity, that everything is out of control and yet it's okay, is alive within us.

AS: We have to like the music we make. I guess that's the conclusion.

Kielichy at the beginning of 2026

ŁŚ: You just released a new album and you're already planning the next one?

AS: Well, it's all happening naturally. The production process for the last album was also quite drawn out. We recorded the material in April last year, but the entire process of overdubbing, mixing, and mastering didn't finish until winter.

ŁŚ: I'll go back to Morze czarne, because I won't deny that this song made an impression on me. On the first EP, you had Bałtyk ("Baltic Sea"), on the second Black Sea, and when I looked at the tracks on the new album, I was surprised there wasn't any sea among the titles. What is it about the sea that makes it such an inspiring subject for you, Adrian?

AS: Since I was a kid, I've been incredibly passionate about the sea and sailing in general. It's a bit absurd, because I'm from the mountains, but at least I live by a lake now. As for Morze Czarne, I feel like this song captured the ambiance of the end of holidays at the Baltic Sea coast for me. The atmosphere of late August. Morze czarne, on the other hand, is a shared memory of ours. Two years ago, we went on a great road trip through the Balkans and spent a wonderful, very cleansing evening by the Black Sea. On a symbolic level, the sea always reminds me of a very vast unconscious layer, and the lyrics I write often work more on the basis of associations, a bit like dreams. The famous word "onirism" often comes up when someone describes our music. So, for me, the sea also symbolizes what these lyrics stem from.

ŁŚ: And "black sea" doesn't even have to be the name of the sea, just its description.

AC: It's not really a toponym.

MU: Well, we had a debate about whether it was the right title, but we decided that it's actually a term that could describe the sea, especially since Adrian draws such a dark landscape in this piece.

We Are All Savants

ŁŚ: You released your first full-length album and titled it Sawant. I admit, I had to google it, but now I know it's either a term for someone who is exceptionally gifted, or it could be the name of a medical condition. Specifically, the very type of autism most often portrayed in movies, like "Rain Man." Who is this savant for you? Where did that title come from?

AS: You know what, I think we're all savants in a way, no matter how that sounds. For me, at least, this savant is a story about us, too, a new name for us at the moment. Because we all have problems in life sometimes, sometimes we struggle with things. But music is the place where our sensitivity, which often causes us a lot of problems, finds its voice.

ŁŚ: There's also something in your work that really catches my eye: the use of religious symbolism. I even have a list: in your songs, there's hell, the gates of hell, heaven, and an angel, although I don't think there's a devil, but I might have missed it. A man hanging from a tree appears about twice, there's a crown of thorns, the number 7. And the chalices ("kielichy") themselves are also a powerful religious symbol.

I wonder if this is intentional, because it adds the right atmosphere and a certain Gothic feel, or maybe it's more a result of the fact that such references simply appear so frequently in our culture?

AS: I've never deliberately used religious symbols in my lyrics to create a certain atmosphere. I think it's more because of our culture and how emotionally and symbolically charged those symbols are, that they can be interpreted in different ways. I really like that. I approach it in a somewhat Jungian way, in that they're often cool symbols for describing the various transformations taking place within us. Plus, I feel like this religious nomenclature fits Sawant because our music is ritual music. At least as we experience it, as we enact it. Music that leads to some kind of transformation.

We often base our songs on a single change of sound, which we build over a long period of time, which encourages falling into a kind of trance. I feel like the use of religious language further emphasizes this.

MU: I associate our music with a religious experience. This lyrical style stems from that fact rather than from any Gothic inspirations, which, don't get me wrong, we also have. But I don't know if you would describe our music as related to, say, the Gothic subculture.

Bartosz Grygielski: We all draw from this kind of mysticism, I think, more as a way of coping with our sensitivity. We draw on symbolism, which allows us to process all of this somehow.

AC: And I think there's also a lyrical parallel between the savant and religious nomenclature. Because it's so oppositional: the savant, this beautiful part, just as we have in the sphere of sacrum, is opposed by certain degeneration. Something sinful, something simply human. I think they go hand in hand.

Sawant features poignant illustrations by Daria Izworska

ŁŚ: You chose Puste niebo ("Empty Sky" but also "Empty Heaven") as the single from the new album, and I'm wondering if a song with such a telling title is some kind of manifesto of your worldview?

AS: You know, to a certain degree. I think strong religious fundamentalism creates a strong dichotomy: something is either white or black, there's nothing in between. And this song is a bit about either you're on that peak and above there's only sky, or you're somewhere at the bottom and there are those lowest valleys. The second part of the lyrics is about how you can escape into a fantasy where everything is wonderful and beautiful. But ultimately, it turns out to be just a dream, some kind of misplacement from reality. So it's a bit like that, but I wouldn't say it's a manifesto. You know, something organic happened here, and the lyrics simply came about while I was composing the song.

ŁŚ: Earlier, you mentioned Jung, the subconscious layer. Does that mean you write lyrics this way? Through a stream of consciousness?

AS: It often happens to me that I have an association that seems very apt and fits the song nicely, and the rest is created around that. Most often, however, the melodic layer comes first; I capture its atmosphere, and associations flow in.

We don't go below a hundred decibels.

ŁŚ: Since we've discussed the lyrical layer, I have to ask about the genre. Do you see yourselves at all in the broadly defined post-rock genre? Because there are more guitar-based, more noise-based pieces on the album, but is that something that inspires you at all?

AC: To a certain extent, for sure. Because if you're broadening the definition of the genre so that you include us, we can say that bands like Swans or Godspeed You! Black Emperor are also included.

Michał Warzecha: The problem with post-rock is that the term now denotes a niche. When I hear "post-rock," I immediately think of bands like Explosions in the Sky. It used to be a broader term, but now I associate it only with its third wave. Even though post-rock was initially meant to transcend the classic rock formula, which is a really interesting thing. Bands like Slint, Talk Talk, and probably Mogwai, were very interesting, but then I get the feeling that... if something after, say, 2010 is tagged as post-rock, I already know what to expect.

So now post-rock means... well, copying Tides From Nebula. I kind of regret that the genre has closed itself off to experimentation.

AC: It's like post-punk now. The name of the genre has changed its meaning. When a band says they play post-punk, it means nothing to me.

ŁŚ: You're playing at the OFF Festival in three weeks. Have you ever played at an event of this scale?

MU: I think the only festivals, if you can call them that, we've played at so far were Muzyczna Jesień and wrOFF (the showcase), but they're not the same. Those were weekend or one-day affairs, usually limited to a single club. So you could say this will be our festival debut.

ŁŚ: How did this even happen?

MU: They wrote to us. (laughs) We didn't apply anywhere or anything.

ŁŚ: So what do you even expect from OFF?

MU: We're definitely happy with the slot we got, because even though we're playing on the smallest stage, it's at 10 PM between Black Country, New Road, and Flaming Lips, so you know... great!

AC: Yes, but the format and timing will be a challenge for us. We'll have 30-35 minutes for the set itself. And our main goal when we play a concert is that we like to stretch these formats and have fun with these songs and give ourselves time. Here, we have to really condense the material and focus on hitting the mark. I don't want to say we'll do a medley, because that's not the case.

AS: We'll probably play two or three songs in those 35 minutes, just to give them time to fade in, to get the vibe going.

AC: That's our biggest challenge right now.

ŁŚ: You'll probably be drowned out by the Flaming Lips, who will be soundchecking right next to you.

MU: But we play pretty loud! (laughs)

AC: We don't go below 100 decibels. (laughs)

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Kielichy will play at OFF Festival on 7 August at 22:35.

The interview cover includes the band picture taken by Daria Izworska.

Kielichy - SAWANT (2026)

Kielichy - Punkty płonące (2026)

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